Energy futures closed down today. Light sweet crude oil for March delivery closed $0.74 to settle at $97.49 per barrel. Heating oil for March delivery closed down 1.0% at $3.00 per gallon, and natural gas lost 1.36%, or $0.07, to close at $4.94 per million BTUs.

The short-sale restriction is triggered when a stock falls 10% in one trading session from the previous session's closing price. The restriction aims to prevent share-price manipulation by short sellers.

While just one piece of the investing puzzle, insider buying and selling can provide valuable clues when setting up a stocks to watch list.

When looking at individual stocks, there is a general rule of thumb to follow when looking at insider buying and selling. Mutual fund legend Peter Lynch said it best: "There are many reasons why insiders sell, but only one reason insiders buy." That reason being, of course, that insiders know something about their company that they are certain will drive the stock price higher.

After showing some signs of life last year, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) stock could get another boost in 2014 when a new CEO takes the helm – and the job could be going to a company insider.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, enterprise and cloud chief Satya Nadella has emerged as the front-runner to replace Steve Ballmer as the next Microsoft CEO, moving past former Skype CEO Tony Bates and former Nokia head Stephen Elop.

Investors who believe in the "Super Bowl Indicator" will be rooting for quarterback Russell Wilson, head coach Pete Carroll, and the rest of the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl XLVIII this Sunday. And not only in hopes of seeing another enthusiastic post-game interview from cornerback Richard Sherman (although that would be a perk).

In yet another reminder that we live in a global economy, events in Japan are setting up to boost liquefied natural gas (LNG) stocks in 2014 and beyond.

Japan's appetite for LNG has ramped up dramatically over the past several years thanks to the 2010 Fukushima nuclear disaster that prompted the closing of virtually all of that country's nuclear reactors.

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